“Rosas danst Rosas” is a dance out of time. Even though Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker created it thirty years ago at the tender age of twenty-four, the quietly captivating piece for four women feels as though it could have been made yesterday. The piece instantly launched the success of De Keersmaeker’s new company “Rosas” and inspired two generations of contemporary choreographers to follow. The timeless appeal of “Rosas danst Rosas” is in its simplicity and honesty: movement phrases are constructed from natural, everyday gestures and body positions, each holding a subtle and familiar mood. The piece moves from floor to feet, starting with phrases that alternate between feverish restlessness and detailed stillness, the occasional slap of a hand on the floor, sharp inhalations and slow exhalations, the rustling of fabric against skin and floor the only score. The second movement—the most famous section of the piece—takes place seated in chairs to the ticking clock score created for the piece by Thierry De Mey and Peter Vermeersch. Six simple phrases, punctuated by relaxed postures, are repeated and rearranged in a complex visual counterpoint. De Keersmaeker freely shares the choreography and structure to this section and has invited people to make their own Rosas Remixes and share them online. In the final movement, the dancers stand and travel through space, with repeated and compounded phrases built off the first and second sections, simple motions with blushes of coquettishness and aggressiveness, finely tuned tilts of head and tugs at shirt that bespeak modesty and seductiveness. The language of “Rosas danst Rosas” is timeless—the language of young women coming of age. (Sharon Hoyer)
Rosas at the Edlis Neeson Theater at the MCA, 220 East Chicago, (312)397-4010. October 9-12, Thursday-Saturday at 7:30pm, Sunday at 3pm. $28.
